Meet Gophers prized men’s basketball recruit Isaiah Santos

Courtesy of the Santos family By Andy Greder / St. Paul Pioneer Press Today at 10:30 AM Listen Comments Share Share this article News Reporting News Reporting Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. The Trust Project What is this? Isaiah Santos has had a big week. The Katy, Texas, senior turned 18 on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, the four-star small forward signed with the Minnesota Gophers men’s basketball program. ADVERTISEMENT Santos is the lone member of the Gophers' 2027 recruiting class, but he’s a highly regarded piece. He is ranked 47th in the nation, per ESPN’s Next 100, and checks in at 59th in 247Sports’ Composite. Here are seven things to know about Santos, head coach Niko Medved’s assessment and the Gophers’ recruiting process during this cycle. ‘Powerful’ Santos is listed at 6 feet 5 and 210 pounds; he uses all of that to play a physical, athletic, high-energy brand of basketball. During his junior year at Seven Lakes High School, he averaged 22.6 points, 11.2 rebounds and 3.0 steals per game and was named the all-Greater Houston boys basketball player of the year for the 2025-26 season. “Isaiah is a powerful wing who plays with a high motor,” head coach Niko Medved said in a statement Wednesday. “He has great hands and body control with a tremendous feel for the game. A winner at every level, Isaiah is a versatile athlete who is always looking to attack.” Santos, who has a 4.0 grade-point average, will enroll at Minnesota in June. Competition Santos had a long list of high-major offers, but only four suitors received campus visits: Minnesota, Texas Tech, Colorado and Butler. ADVERTISEMENT His other offers included Houston, Illinois, Central Florida, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Virginia Tech, Auburn and Southern Methodist. Santos committed to Minnesota a week after an official visit in July. His father, Alex, credited the relationship building Medved and assistant coach Aaron Katsuma did with Isaiah. “He tried to go somewhere that had a sense of family, and he found it there,” Alex Santos told the St. Paul Pioneer Press this week. “He said, ‘They have a lot of belief in me, and I’m going to make sure that I work every day to make sure that I can fulfill that.’ ” Only one The Gophers set out to bring in only one or two players in this class due to the new NCAA eligibility rule allowing players five years to play five seasons. Every current player on the Gophers’ roster can return for 2027-28. “It’s going to create a roster crunch all over the country,” Medved said last week. “There are so many unknowns with who’s going to come back, who’s not and all that. But I think, again, it kind of made us think long and hard about how many freshman we wanted to take in this particular class.” The Gophers pursued four-star guard Malik Olajuwon, the son of Naismith Hall of Fame center Hakeem Olajuwon, but the 6-foot-4 prospect from IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, committed to SMU in October. Athletic parents Santos’ mother, Andrea, was a standout volleyball player at Kansas. The 5-foot-10 setter from Loveland, Colorado, is No. 2 in Jayhawks history in assists (4,722) and the record-holder in assists per set (12.14) from 2002-05. ADVERTISEMENT Alex Santos started playing basketball in his native Brazil at age 11 for local teams, advanced to a youth national team and said he played in a world championship tournament in Russia. “I (saw) some of the Americans playing basketball in the tournament out there, and I was like, “Man, I’ve got to get better and I think I’ve got to go there, where the best (are) at,” he said. He moved to the U.S., and at 6-6, he played small forward at Park University, an NAIA school near Kansas City, Missouri. “Bragging a bit about my wife, she is a legend,” Alex said. “Even though we were both athletes, Isaiah got a lot from her.” ‘Hybrid’ Medved likes Santos’ athleticism, his “elite” rebounding for his size, ability to guard multiple positions, passing skills and knack for scoring off the dribble. “He’s just kind of one of these hybrid guys,” Medved said. During his time at Colorado State, Medved put two of these tweener-type players in the NBA — Nique Clifford (Thunder) and David Roddy (Nuggets). “(Santos is) different than both of those, but he’s in the same mold as far as they both were kind of position-less,” Medved said Thursday. “You could play them all over the court. So that’s what I see in him.” ADVERTISEMENT One area Medved noted for Santos to improve: his 3-point shooting. Brazilian pride Isaiah Santos is a dual national with Brazil and played in the Under-18 AmeriCup in Leon, Mexico, in June. He averaged 14.3 points, 8.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game as Brazil won bronze. “There’s something about playing international ball and the sense you are representing a country that is really, really cool,” Alex Santos said. “For me, it’s beyond a pride moment.” NBA connection Before Isaiah was playing at a YMCA, he was at NBA games through a connection to Nene, the 6-11 Brazilian center who played with the Denver Nuggets, Washington Wizards and Houston Rockets from 2002-19. Alex Santos and Nene were teammates in Brazil, and Alex became Nene’s manager. The Santos family moved to where Nene played in the Association. Isaiah was born in Colorado, then moved to Washington, D.C., and has settled in Texas. “(Isaiah) has a maturity that I didn’t have when I was 17 years old,” Alex said. “He has a pretty good head on his shoulders. He knows exactly what he wants to do and exactly where he wants to be. … He wants to get to college, and he wants to continue to get better.” Text Example ____________________________________ This story was written by one of our partner news agencies. Forum Communications Company uses content from agencies such as Reuters, Kaiser Health News, Tribune News Service and others to provide a wider range of news to our readers. Learn more about the news services FCC uses here. Comments Share Share this article News Reporting News Reporting Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. The Trust Project What is this? 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